Game apparatus



Nov. 24, 1925.` 1,562,866

N. W. BURGl-:ss

` GAME APPARATUS Filed Jan.-18, 1924 i l l l lf j@ l ...Q gravante@ Pfatented'iNov. 24, 1925.

NORMAN w. BURGnss, 'or LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA.

GAME APPARATUS.

Application led January 18, 1924. Serial No. 687,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN W. BURGnss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lexington, in the county of Rockbridge and State of Virginia, have invented certain' new and useful Improvements in Game A pparatus, of which the following is a speellication.'

`means of which games representing athletic contests mayl be played, and in which the elements both of cha-nce and skill are combinedlin such manner that while the chances of one `side or the other winning may remain undetermined until the last moment, yet the mo're skillful player has a slight advantage. I shall describe the invention as applied to apparatus representing a football game, but it will'be readily understood that by a modiication ofV some of the features of the-ap paratus it may be adapted for the playing of other games.

In the accompanying drawings- Fig. l is a plan View of game board marked to indicate a football field.

Figures 2 to l0 indicate the several dice that are employed in playing the game, the different faces of the several dice being shown in series.

game. In Figure'l there. 1s' represented a board *Y A upon which the game is played, it being j lelcross lines to indicate the hundred yards between goals, the five yard lines,.3, being heavy, and the o ne yard lines, 4, light. The several lines are preferably successively numbered, beginning at each `goal, from l to 50,.the latter being the center line, equidistant from the goals. v v

B, Figure A11, is a small piece adapted to be moved over the board A, representing the ball that is in play, which it may simulate in appearance. It should be constructed so aspto rest firmly u on or be secured ,to the board so that lit wi l remain in the positions in which it may be placed. y f5 C, Figure 12, represents 'what I term the Figures 411 and 12 are perspective views of other apparatus employed in playing the ten yard marker. It is preferably a small flat strip of material, for instance wood or metal, the ends of which are ored, as indicated at 5, 5, the colors being dillerent and corresponding with the color of the two contesting sides. The length of 'the marker is equal to ten yards, as measured by the scale adopted in marking the board A. My invention relates to apparatus by The several dice, illustrated in Figures 2. to 10, employed in playing the game, differ ,1n their markings, and in `their coloring also if desired, but are preferably of unlform size,cubes from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in eachdimension being a convement size for use fin playing the games.

These dice vmay be thrown from the hand or a box and the markings on' theuppermost faces thereof designate the nature of the plays to be made. One of the dice, designatpreferably coled D and represented in Figure 2, I term the fate die since it indicates the nature of the play to be made and determines whether there shall be gain or loss, or no change of position. In pla-ying the football game I prefer to mark three of the faces of the fate die with the word Gaim one face with the word"Loss and two faces with the words No gain. This arrangement I have found to give they best results, most nearly simulatlng a real game of football.

The faces of the dice E, F, which I term I f the "number dice, bear various numbers, elther'with or without the accompanying word Yards,as may be preferred. These are used in conjunction with the fate die,

'1), and indicate the extent of movement of the ball, B, across the board at any play, the direction of movement, whether forward Vor backward, being indicated by the fate dieD.

I havefound that the game is more interesting and more nearly simulates a real football game 1f the sum of the two numbers appearing on the exposedY faces of the dice E,

F, be added to represent-'the movement of the ball` when the word Gain is shown by the die D; While the number appeared on the exposed face of one only of the number dice, and preferably the `smaller' of these exposed numbers, is used to indicatethe movement of thelball when the fate/dieshows Loss Of course when the fate dieshows No gain the showing on the number dice is disregarded entirely.

die is apparent, it being the Ifirst one used on starting a game. y

Die L is termed the Kick-receiveddie, and its faces are marked to indicate whether .the ball on the kick-off was freely caught,`

and if so how far it was returned, or whether faces are marked as indicated in said view.

it was fuinbled, or lost, etc. The markings on the face of the die indicating these plays are' represented in Figure 10.

The die H,A Figure 6, is the Punt die, and is used in play when it is desired wthat the ball shall'be` punted or kicked, and its The die I, Figure 7, is termed the Field goal7 die, and is used when .an attempt is made to kick goal from the field. Als indicated, four of the faces of the die are marked toindicate that the attempt was unsuccessful, and one of these faces shows that a penalty was attached to the failure, while the other two faces indicate that theattempt was successful and the goal was made.

The die J is the -Forward pass die, and is marked as,y represented in Figure 8. The die K, designated the Touch-down goal die, and 'marked as indicated in Figure 9, is used when the ball has beencarried'past the goal lineand a touch-down made and is used to indicate'whether the goal was kicked after -such touch-down, or whether the attempt to kick the goal failed.

The rules governing the play of thegmne should be largely determined by the 'rules at the time governing football contests.; Fo1- instance, the game can be played infour quarters of equal length of time, say five minutefs each. In scoring, a touch-down may countf, a goal kick after a'touch-down I1,

.and field goal 3, and the team with the larger score at the end of the four periods wins.v 1

In playing the game the persons choose the goals, 2, Q'which they are supposed to respectively defend, and then determine, as by the toss of a coin, which side shall kick olf audit may be assumed that the red side wins the kick-off, the blues, therefore, de-

fending. The balllB is placed on the center line 3, and the kick-ofi' die G is thrown by the red side. It will be supposed that this reads thirty yardline, whereupon the ball is advanced to the line thirty yards distant from-the blue goal. The opposing side, the

' blues, now throw the kick-received die L,

and itfwill be supposed that this shows that the receiving player was thrown, i'naking no gainbut retainingthe ball. The blues,

therefore, now have the ball on their thirty,

yard line. The ten yard marker, C, is now brought into play, its red end being placed on the thirty yard line, where is the ball,

.and its blue end on the forty yard line, thus indicating by the end colored 4to correspond with that of the side having the ball the position to which at least the ball must be advanced in four downs if possession of the Again or loss resulting from that play. The

dice D, E and F are now thrown together by the blue side'. The fate die D indicates whether the play to be made is a gain or loss,

and it will be assumed that it shows Gain The dice E and F, by the numbers appearing on the exposed faces thereof, indicate lthe extent of the gain or loss. In the presentV 1 instance it will-be supposed that these dice show respectively the numbers 8 and 1,which added indicate that the blues have made a gain of nine yards, whereupon the ball is advanced to the thirt -nine yard'lirie; and the play for the secon down is made by again `throwing the dice D, E and F; and it will be supposed that the-fate die D again reads Gaim land the number dice show the figures 4 and 7 indicating that the blues have made a further gain offeleven yards. Thereupon the ball is, advanced to the fifty yard line,

which is beyond the `blue end of the marker C-Jthel end toward which the blue side was seeking to advance the ball. Having made' their ten yard gain the marker C is now advanced, the red end ybeing placed on the fifty yard line where lies the ball, and the blue end on the forty yard line from the red goal. The blue side now throws the dice Ifor a first down play, and it will be supposed that the fate die shows No gain, whereupon the showin` on the other dice is disregarded, and the dice are again thrown, this time the'fate die showing Lo ss, and the number dice reading 4 and 5. As has been hereinbeforelindicated when a loss is shown by-the die DI have found-that the game is made more interesting if the num.

ber on only one of the dice, E, F, is considered, and that the smaller one, in this instance, 4. The play thusindicates that on the second down the blues lose four yards, whereupon the ball ismovedback to the fortysix yard line from theblue goal. On the throw for the third play, the fate die reads Gain and the number' dice show 2 and 3, indicating a gain of ve yards for the blues,

whereupon the ball is moved to the fortynine yard line from the red goal. The blues now throw for their fourth and last play, and the fate die reads No gain. Thereupon the ball, now onA the forty-nine yard line from the red goal goes to the red side; and the marker C is re laced with its blue end on the line on Whic the ball rests, and its red end on the forty-one yard line from the blue goal.

cated by the throw of the die which may be-` chosen Ywillbeapparent and need not be set down herein.

. Whenever one side forces the ball over the goal line of the other side making a touchdown,the ball is replaced on the fifteen yard line and the Touch-down goal die is thrown, which indicates whether or not the player is successful in kicking goal.,

With this explanation it will be apparent how the various plays in the game may be indicated and'executed. As is evident, the element of chance is present throughout the game. But at the same time familiarity with the game of football and skill in selecting the die or dice to be used as governed by the situation represented at the moment on the board, will oftendetermine the' winning of the game. Y

While my invention has been described 1n connection with apparatus designed by playing a football game, it is apparent that other games may be played by means of` the apparatus described, it merely beinv necessary to' change the designations on tie dice to suit the plays of the particular game to be played, and-perchance the number of dice employed to suit the various plays that are to be made.

While I have represented and described,

- and prefer to use,'dice to indicate the plays,

it will be apparent tha-tfother indicating means, as for instance, sets of cards corresponding with the faces of the dice, or dials, the segments of which are marked as are the faces of the dice,and rovided withspinning pointers may be used, and I wish :1t to be understood that I consider for many purposes these several indicating means as mechanical equivalents of each other.

What I claim is: 1. In1 game apparatus, a board having goals at its opposite ends and graduated between goals, a piece to be moved over the face of the board, a marker of length equal to the distance between a determined. number of the graduations, adaptedy to be placed with one end in line with the piece, its other end indicating the movement of the piece that must be made ina determined number of plays, the opposite ends of the marker being designated' to correspond with the goals, and chance-controlled indicating means for determining the direction vof movement and its extent at each play. i

2. Game apparatus, comprising a marked board, a ieee to be moved over the face "of the board chance-controlled means for determining the ordinary movements of the piece, vcomprising a-plurality of elements, one of which indicates the direction of movement of the play and the other the extent of such movement., and other indeendent, selective chance-controlled means or indicating movements of the piece on special plays.V

3. Apparatus for playing a football game, comprising a board with goals at its ends and graduations between goals, a piece to be `moved over the face of the board, a marker -of a length equal to the distance between a determined number of the graduations on the board and distinctively marked at its opposite ends, and dicendapted to be thrown to indicate the plays, comprising a set, one of .which is marked to indicate Whether the' side playing makes gain, suffers loss, or neither gains. or loses, and the other of which set are marked with numbers to indicate, the extent of movement indicated by the first die, and other, selective,'dice to be used at the will of the player in lieu of those constitutin the rst mentioned set', indicating specia plays to be made, and the nature and extent of movement of the piece made by the special play chosen to be executed.

NORMAN `W. BURGESS. 

